Prevalence of Single and Multiple Leading Causes of Death by Race/Ethnicity Among People Aged 60 to 70 Years

Non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics had more than twice the prevalence of diabetes alone and diabetes and CVD as non-Hispanic whites. Non-Hispanic blacks had roughly the same prevalence of diabetes and cancer as the other 2 races at age 60, but prevalence of this multimorbidity more than doubled by age 79. Non-Hispanic blacks had double the prevalence of the combination of diabetes and lung disease at age 60, but that prevalence fell below that of non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics by age 79. Among Hispanics, prevalence of the combination of diabetes, CVD, and lung disease declined by more than half from age 60 to age 79, but more than doubled over the same age span for non-Hispanic blacks while remaining approximately the same for non-Hispanic whites.

Figure 1.
Prevalence of single and multiple chronic conditions that include diabetes. Abbreviations: CVD, cardiovascular disease; lung, chronic lung disease.

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Graphs present trends in the prevalence of single and multiple chronic conditions that exclude diabetes. Non-Hispanic whites had more than twice the prevalence of cancer only as non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics and a higher prevalence of lung disease only, CVD and cancer, and CVD and lung disease. The prevalence of having no chronic disease declined steadily with age.

Figure 2.
Prevalence of single and multiple chronic conditions that exclude diabetes. Abbreviations: CVD, cardiovascular disease; lung, chronic lung disease.

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